Saturday, July 11, 2015

Monuments, Dams, Horeshoe and Grand

Leaving Bluff, UT this morning I first traveled through Monument Valley on the border of Utah and Arizona.




At the south end of Monument Valley is Agathla Peak, a volcanic plug dating to about 25 million years ago.



Traveling to Page, AZ I passed two of environmentalists worst nightmares, both about 5 miles from each other:  the coal-fired Navajo Generating Station and Glen Canyon Dam.





Glen Canyon Dam is an impressive structure, and although it's effect on the Colorado River has been abysmal, it does produce carbon-free electricity.  Ironically, the Navajo Generating Station had to be built to supply the electricity for the Central Arizona Project because the the hydropower electricity had  already been apportioned to other users.

Next stop was Horseshoe Bend, a classic entrenched meander on the Colorado River just downstream from the dam.


Last stop was the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  The Grand Canyon still takes my breath away, lieterally - at 8000 feet the air is mighty thin for a lowlander.

 

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